Question 1

Which applications can I submit renders from?

Accepted Answer

Blender, Maya, and Nuke today via native plugins that estimate, submit, monitor, and retrieve renders without leaving the app. A Houdini plugin (Mantra, Karma XPU, Redshift, plus FLIP/Pyro/RBD/Vellum/crowd simulations) is in pilot.

Question 2

Do I need AWS credentials or to manage a render farm?

Accepted Answer

No. You sign in to your KinoCloud account through a secure browser login and your session is stored in your OS keyring. Rendering is proxied through KinoCloud — there are no AWS keys, farm IDs, or S3 buckets to configure.

Question 3

Which renderers are supported?

Accepted Answer

Blender (Cycles) and Nuke comps, plus Arnold, V-Ray, RenderMan, and Redshift in Maya. Houdini render engines (Mantra/Karma/Redshift) are part of the pilot path.

Question 4

Will I know the cost before I submit?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every job can be cost-estimated first (estimated hours and dollars) and you confirm before it runs. Settlement is capped at the quote, so the estimate is the ceiling.

Question 5

How do I keep render spend under control?

Accepted Answer

Create a budget — a USD cap — directly in the plugin, optionally with an auto-stop threshold (for example, pause new tasks at 90%). The panel shows live usage and warns as you approach the limit.

Question 6

Are there per-application licence costs?

Accepted Answer

Renders that use licensed software carry a small per-hour add-on (e.g. Maya, Nuke, Arnold), folded into your estimate. Houdini needs a SideFX licence — either KinoCloud-managed at $0.75/hr or bring your own licence server.

Question 7

How do I track and download a finished job?

Accepted Answer

The plugin polls job status and shows progress in the panel; you can cancel a job or download outputs from the same panel, or drive it from the plugin’s Python API.

Question 8

Can I script or automate submissions?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Each plugin exposes a Python API (submit, configure, status, budgets, download) backed by the shared KinoCloud client, and the platform offers REST endpoints with API keys for fully automated pipelines.

Cloud Rendering for Media

Cloud rendering — FAQ

Cloud Rendering for Media

Cloud rendering — FAQ